Reports have emerged claiming Sheffield United’s renewed interest in Southampton’s Sam Gallagher. The Championship outfit had previously been linked with the side but Chris Wilder could not pull off the transfer due to a lack of funds. Now, Blades owners, Kevin McCabe and HRH Prince Abdullah bin Musa’ad bin Abdulaziz Al Saud have loosened the financial restrictions, allowing the manager to go after his target man.
Gallagher is coming off a loan spell with Birmingham City during which he scored 7 times in 34 all around appearances. The 22-year-old was a surplus to Mauricio Pellegrino’s requirements in the Saints lineup and had to be moved out to keep his development on track.
Gallagher has 10 caps for the England youth sides and has 3 international goals registered to his name. The centre-forward started out with Plymouth Argyle but later signed with Southampton in April 2012. He made his debut in a League Cup game against Sunderland in November next year.
Prior to joining a Garry Monk-led Birmingham side, Gallagher had loan spells with Milton Keynes Dons and Blackburn Rovers. Monk decided to field the 22-year-old in the second half of the 2-1 win over Sheffield United, in early April.
Wilder has already expressed his intentions of bolstering the United first team squad to improve upon their 10th place Championship finish last season. Currently, the side already has Leon Clarke and Billy Sharp, who racked up an impressive tally of 33 goals last term.
Both men extended their contracts following United’s promotion from League One and were instrumental in keeping the side afloat in the Championship last campaign. Gallagher will optimally be used as a rotational option or could add some competition to the number nine position.
He is still young and could develop into a prime attacking talent if given the room to grow. A favourable environment might not be offered to him at Hampshire with veterans like Shane Long, Charlie Austin, Manuel Gabbiadini and Guido Carrillo already setting up camp there.
The Saints also are looking towards more high profile names to address their previous season woes. A very poorly led Southampton team lost Virgil van Dijk midway through the campaign and finished just 3 points clear of the relegation zone.
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Mark Hughes is already looking at Barcelona’s Paco Alcacer and that would mean offloading a few of his current assets. Selling Gallagher will certainly help the Saints boss in his pursuit of the Spaniard.
